7 cops guarding polio vaccination workers killed in Pakistan

April 20, 2016

Seven policemen guarding polio vaccination campaign officials were killed in two separate attacks near in a town near Pakistan’s financial capital Karachi today.

Unidentified gunmen on motorcycles opened fire on a police vehicle, which was deployed for the security of polio vaccination officials, in Orangi town. All four policemen on board the vehicle were killed on the spot, Dawn.com reported.

The gunmen then opened fire at three other cops while fleeing from the attack site. The All the three policemen succumbed to their injuries in a hospital later.

The area was cordoned off immediately after the multiple attacks and authorities suspended the anti-polio campaign.

Terrosists have targeted anti-polio campaign in Pakistan regularly. In January, 15 people were killed and several injured after a suicide bomber detonated explosives outside a polio eradication centre in Quetta.

In Pakistan and Afghanistan, the last two countries where polio currently remains endemic, conflict and propaganda have hampered the campaign against the virus.

The campaign to eliminate polio in Pakistan is fraught with risk, with militants attacking health teams they accuse of being Western spies.